


Breathe Me

by Karinakamichi



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2001), Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anorexia, Borderline Personality Disorder, Child Abuse, Crying, Cutting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Men Crying, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Self-Blame, Self-Destruction, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Reflection, Starvation, Suicidal Ideation, Suicidal Thoughts, The Author Regrets Everything, and others crying, possibly hospitals, protective kyou, protective yuki, the author projects onto everybody
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 23:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21064742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karinakamichi/pseuds/Karinakamichi
Summary: At first, nobody noticed anything besides how nervous she seemed.It wasn't anything particularly new; More often than not, Tohru had always seemed kind of anxious around others, whatever the reason may be. But these were new levels of anxiousness. Anymore, she got unusually jumpy over the slightest touches and physical contact, she would often stare off into space and lose focus, not to mention that she didn't appear to be getting enough sleep as of late. She was always the first one to shower and sometimes spent long periods of time in the bathroom.And all of those closest to her quickly began to notice her odd behavior, even Shigure.However, it wasn't until one particular incident that they were pretty certain that something was definitely wrong.





	Breathe Me

** _Story: Breathe Me, Prologue_ **

** _Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. _ **

** _This is my first fanfiction for this series, so please be nice! _ **

* * *

At first, nobody noticed anything besides how nervous she seemed. 

It wasn't anything particularly new; More often than not, Tohru had always seemed kind of anxious around others, whatever the reason may be. But these were new levels of anxiousness. Anymore, she got unusually jumpy over the slightest touches and physical contact, she would often stare off into space and lose focus, not to mention that she didn't appear to be getting enough sleep as of late. She was always the first one to shower and sometimes spent long periods of time in the bathroom. 

And all of those closest to her quickly began to notice her odd behavior, even Shigure.

However, it wasn't until one particular incident that they were pretty certain that something was definitely wrong.

...

"Tohru-kun, aren't you going to eat anything?" Shigure asked. Both Yuki and Kyou seemed to be giving her looks, but it was pretty apparent that they weren't going to ask even if they had the same question on mind, so he had decided to take the initiative. 

In reality, Tohru actually hadn't been able to eat much at all since _ that night _, but she didn't want to worry them or for them find out about what had happened, so, instead, she smiled and lied. "Ah, no, I actually ate an apple and some mochi earlier, so I'm not really all that hungry."

"I see." Shigure regarded her with an unreadable expression. Whether or not he believed her was another matter, but he decided to press the matter further.

Yuki, however, breached another subject. "Honda-san, you look kind of pale, are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, of course, I'm-" Her words cut off immediately when he gently reached a hand up to her face to get a general idea of her temperature. She instinctively tensed up, a look of terror in her eyes, catching everybody in the room off guard.

"Honda-san?" Yuki immediately pulled his hand back, feeling a huge pang of guilt for scaring her, trying his best to not think about how cool to the touch she'd felt.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kyou asked immediately after, with urgency and unrestrained concern. 

Shigure was currently debating on whether or not he should say anything or leave the other two to handle it (four would be even more of a crowd than three, after all), but Tohru seemed to regain a bit of her composure before he would even have to.

"...It's nothing. I'm really sorry about that. I must have frightened you all. I guess Sohma-kun just kind of startled me a bit." Tohru gave them a bright smile, even though it honestly felt so much heavier than it normally would. She knew that she couldn't keep the act up forever. So she got up. "Well, anyway, I think I'm going to head onto school now. You two can catch up with me whenever you want."

In reality, a part of her didn't feel safe being alone, but the other part of her needed to get away right now.

"This early?" Shigure rose an eyebrow amidst the silence of the other two. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get a head-start. Do be careful, though."

"I know. Thanks. And Sohma-kun, I'm really sorry again." Tohru apologized emphatically.

"No, it's okay. Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself, though?" Yuki asked, a little uncertain. 

"Yes, I'll be fine, so there's no need to rush for me. Just take however much time you need." Tohru reassured him.

"Alright, we'll see you in a bit." Yuki offered her a small smile, a gesture of which she returned in kind.

"Okay, I'm off." Tohru said, as she left the house moments later.

"What the hell was that about…?" Kyou muttered, breaking the silence that followed. 

"Well, I can't say for certain, but something seems to be bothering Tohru-kun lately… I wonder what it is..." Shigure mused aloud. 

Nobody had an answer to his question because Tohru's behavior and tenseness as of late was just as much of a mystery to them as it was to him.

…

**A/N: I just finished season 1 of the new Fruits Basket series and honestly I balled tears. The original was good too, but I'm really looking forward to season 2! I decided to start this story based off of some of my own personal experiences, so I apologize. There will be some very sensitive topics in this, so if you can't handle things like discussion and themes of self-harm/cutting/anorexia and rape recovery, then I suggest you shouldn't read this.**


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